BEGINNER SCIENCE ACTIVITY CREATING A COMPOST As a farmer, George Washington was always looking for ways to improve his crops. He experimented with different types of fertilizer and built the dung repository for this purpose. Today, many people make compost to do the same job. Compost is made up of organic material such as leaves, fruits, and vegetables that has decomposed, or broken down into smaller parts. As this material decomposes, it releases nutrients that can help new plants grow. Recipe for compost: green stuff (scraps of plants that are still green), brown stuff (scraps of plants that are already dead), air, and water! Below, create your own recipe for compost by writing things you should and should not include in your compost. At the bottom, George Washington has already written in some suggestions based on his own recipe! DO put in your compost DO NOT put in your compost George s suggestions -grass clippings from the Bowling Green -Fish heads from the wharf George s suggestions -broken pottery -sawdust 1
BEGINNER MATH ACTIVITY WASHINGTON S FIVE FARMS Mount Vernon was once made up of 5 farms that totaled almost 8,000 acres. When you visited the estate, you were visiting land that was once part of Mansion House. You may have also seen the Pioneer site, which replicates life on one of Washington s four outlying farms. The outlying farms are where Washington did most of his large scale farming. At each of his farms, Washington carefully tracked how many crops were produced. Bushels of corn Bushels of wheat Dogue Run Muddy Hole River Union 11 21 16 9 17 15 25 8 Use the table to answer the questions below: 1. How many bushels of wheat came from Dogue Run? 2. Which farm produced the most bushels of corn? 3. Which farm produced the fewest bushels of wheat? 4. Which farm produced 41 bushels altogether? 5. Which farm produced the fewest bushels altogether? 6. Which farm produced the fewest bushels of corn? 7. Which farm produced 28 bushels altogether? 8. Which farm produced the most bushels altogether? 2
INTERMEDIATE SCIENCE ACTIVITY LEARNING ABOUT CROP ROTATION Today, many organic farmers use the same methods that George Washington developed as a farmer to keep the soil fertile and produce the best crops possible. Using what you learned at Mount Vernon, complete the sentences below about how Washington innovated his farming practices! 1. Washington knew that good, fertile soil was important. He stopped relying on the traditional cash crop of Virginia,, because it depleted the nutrients in the soil too much. 2. is organic material that is used both in small home gardens and large farms. As this organic material decays, it puts good nutrients back into the soil. Washington experimented with composting by putting manure and fish heads in his, a special structure he designed. 3. When the same plant is grown in a field year after year it is called. Washington learned that this decreased soil fertility, so he began using. By rotating which plants he grew in a given field, Washington allowed the soil to regain nutrients and stay more productive in the long run. 4. Washington began with a three year crop rotation schedule, but eventually he switched to a longer year schedule. 5. Below is a diagram of crops Washington rotated. Fill in the blanks. or Potatoes Clover or grass Buckwheat Word Bank tobacco crop rotation corn seven compost wheat mono-cropping dung repository 3
INTERMEDIATE MATH ACTIVITY WASHINGTON THE BUSINESSMAN George Washington ran Mount Vernon as a business. Most of what he grew or caught served two purposes. First, he needed to feed everyone at Mount Vernon. Second, he wanted to sell what was left over to make a profit. Complete the word problems below. 1. At George Washington s 16-sided barn, the horses could tread 28 bushels of wheat in 1 hour. a. In a 12 hour work day, how many bushels of wheat could the horses tread? b. Twenty-eight bushels of wheat can be grown on ½ an acre. How long would it take the horses to tread an entire acre worth of wheat? 2. Washington s fisheries caught 1,500,000 fish in one year. His goal was to catch enough fish to provide each slave with 20 fish a month, and there were 300 slaves at Mount Vernon. a. Did Washington catch enough fish for his goal? b. If so, how many fish did he have left over to sell? c. To preserve the fish for an entire year, all 1,500,000 fish must be packed in barrels of salt. If 800 fish would fit in one barrel, how many barrels did Washington need? 3. George Washington often allowed his neighbors to grind their grain at his gristmill. In order to do so, he charged them 1/8 of whatever was ground. a. If Mr. Posey brought 32 barrels of grain to be ground at Washington s gristmill, how much would the payment to Washington be? b. In 1799, Washington s super-fine flour sold for $8.50 a barrel. If he sold 25 barrels, how much money would he make? 4
ADVANCED WRITING ACTIVITY WASHINGTON S BUSINESS VENTURES George Washington was an innovative farmer and businessman, and he was always looking for new ways to make Mount Vernon successful. Answer the following questions about each of the business ventures listed below. Based on what you learned during your visit, determine which of Washington s ventures you think contributed the most to making Mount Vernon successful. On another piece of paper, write a short essay about your choice, using specific evidence to support your argument. 1. Why did Washington choose this business venture? 2. What benefits did this business venture provide to Mount Vernon? 3. How was this business venture related to the others, if at all? 4. How did this business venture contribute to making Mount Vernon self-sustaining? For extra information, check out Mount Vernon s Digital Encyclopedia at http://www.mountvernon.org/research-collections/digital-encyclopedia/ 16-SIDED BARN THE FISHERIES THE DISTILLERY THE GRISTMILL 5
ADVANCED MATH ACTIVITY TRACKING PRODUCTION AT THE GRISTMILL AND DISTILLERY Using the space below, graph the information provided about production at Washington s gristmill and distillery and answer the questions. Be sure to label each X axis and Y axis, and give each graph a title. THE GRISTMILL In 1797, the gristmill processed 5,000 bushels of wheat and 3,200 bushels of corn. Create a bar graph comparing wheat and corn production. 5 bushels can fit in 1 barrel. How many barrels would be needed to store the wheat and corn? barrels of wheat barrels of corn What percentage of the gristmill s total production in 1797 was wheat? % What percentage of the gristmill s total production in 1797 was corn? % THE DISTILLERY In 1797, the distillery produced 600 gallons of whiskey. In 1798, it produced 4,500 gallons and in 1799 it produced 10,942 gallons. Create a line graph to track the distillery s production over those three years. In 1799, the distillery s production had a total value of $7,674. What was the price per gallon that year? $ If whiskey maintained the same price per gallon for all three years, what would be the total value for the whiskey production in 1797 and 1798? 1797: $ 1798: $ 6